Redefining Academic Excellence: Test Scores Aren’t the Whole Story
Welcome to the new school year!
For most of you, this is nothing out of the ordinary. For me and the other kindergarten parents, this is brand new territory. I can only hope that Kaylee and I have done everything we can to prepare our kiddos for this next chapter.
This, of course, begs the question: how will we know if we have been successful? How will we be able to determine whether we adequately prepared them for what is next? I suppose being able to write their name, count to 20, or recognize their ABCs would be a fairly decent indicator of success.
As I contemplated this question with regard to my own household, I began to wonder what this term ‘Academic Excellence’ actually means. How do we know when, or if, we have achieved it? Naturally, we could evaluate it the same way I did my ability to prepare my kids for kindergarten. After all, that is the focus of public school, right? Teach them reading, writing, and arithmetic and then test them to see how much they’ve retained. That’s pretty straightforward!
Except—it’s not. We often discuss learning as though it is a series of single events. A student is given new material, they study it, and they are evaluated on how much they can recall. I’m no expert, but it would seem that grades and test scores only tell a fraction of the story. If our students don’t have the confidence or emotional skillset to excel at the next level, then we (parents and educators) have not done all we can to help them.
When we define ‘Academic Excellence’, we have to acknowledge that it is comprised of more than proficiency rates from standardized tests. Public education is designed to not only benefit the individual, it also serves the vital function of enriching our community. Nobody succeeds on their own, and while a person may accomplish great things individually, society suffers if that other component is ignored. Our students need to be able to understand multiple perspectives, engage in healthy debate, and find solutions together.
While we are on the subject—has anybody asked why test scores have declined? Data is not a tool used to judge individuals or institutions. It is an invitation to ask questions. What factors contributed to these results? Where can we focus our resources to achieve better results? If I saw a decline in corporate donations over a period of time at my organization, I wouldn’t casually shrug my shoulders and say “we have to do better”. I would see that as an opportunity to analyze what particular circumstances led to that specific result and adjust my resources as necessary.
As a School District our Strategic Plan must go beyond merely demanding higher test scores and proficiency rates. If we truly want ‘Academic Excellence’, we need to provide our students with the opportunities to increase their academic, social, and emotional skillsets to excel in life. We need to give them the tools to transfer and understand the information in different situations, not just where it was practiced. Knowledge is not a snapshot in time; it is a process.
There are those in our community who are so singularly focused on test scores, that I think they miss this larger point. Do I want to see better test scores? Of course I do. At the same time, I also understand that test scores are not a measure of a student’s potential. Instead, test scores measure a school’s ability to reach its students, and educators are unable to accomplish that if they do not have the support or resources to do so. Sadly, it would seem some of our current board members do not understand this. They simply demand that our teachers and staff do better. It appears their argument is that the schools are failing our children.
Our schools are not failing. We have failed them.
Which is why I am making one request. Many of you have graciously asked what you can do to help support me and my campaign, and I continue to be grateful for that. But it’s not about me; it never has been. I want you to come to a school board meeting.
This is about our students. It is about our teachers, staff, and administrators that show up every day to support our kids. These are members of our community who step up and safeguard the well-being and future possibilities for the most precious things in our lives. I am running for this board seat to support them. I hope you will join me at our next board meeting to demonstrate that we will settle for nothing less than the best this community has to offer.
The next school board meeting is this coming Monday, September 8th at 6:00 pm, at the District Services Center, 4540 Tower Street SE, Prior Lake, MN 55372. I hope to see you there!